The Conservative Government believes it can buy votes by cutting National Insurance just when the NHS and Education investment requirements are at their heaviest.
Nobody likes paying higher taxes, but conversely, everybody wants a better NHS and Education sector. Sorry, but somebody needs to tell voters the truth: that higher taxes are needed in the short term.
This extra 4% would be allocated to a long-term infrastructure budget, and the certainty of tax revenues will allow the Government to borrow against this income to start major infrastructure projects now.
Long-term infrastructure plans.
A cycle of 4-year elections ensures that most political decisions are based on “Short Term” objectives, and it’s essential that we remove key sectors such as Education and NHS funding from this crippling cycle of under-investment that they have suffered.
Therefore, a cross-party review and 10-year rolling plan must be created and funded outside the Government’s annual budgets.
These must consider the long-term sustained investment needed to upgrade the infrastructure of the NHS and Education.
Index-linked Pay for the Public Sector.
As part of this process, base salary levels for each role must be established, with salaries being indexed linked to rise with inflation.
This will prevent Governments from making short-term decisions such as only allowing below-average pay rises in the public sector, which results in the long-term staffing issues we are now experiencing across the NHS and Education.
Use of AI to drive efficiency gains – See separate Policy Statement
